Kampala — THE Democratic Party has appealed to the new US president not to forget Uganda.

"The out-going American president, George W. Bush, had a heart for Uganda. We ask the next president to also lend a hand to this country," the DP secretary general, Lulume Bayiga, said on the eve of the US polls on Tuesday.

"The DP thanks George Bush for the financial assistance that he has been offering to this country, to improve its people's health," Bayiga added.

Speaking at the party's weekly press briefing, in Kampala, Bayiga said: "Obama has great health plans for Africa and McCain thinks of improving democracy and good governance. Either way, Uganda shall benefit from whoever takes the top American seat. "No matter who wins, we ask that he keeps Uganda on the donation map of America.

Barack Obama yesterday emerged the winner to become the first African-American president of the US.

Americans voted in their new president at the end of the longest, most expensive campaign in US history.

In his State of the Union Address in 2003, President Bush made a commitment to substantially increase US support for addressing HIV/AIDS worldwide.